I HOLD THIS TRUTH TO BE SELF-EVIDENT, THAT A DEBT CRISIS CANNOT BE RESOLVED WITH MORE DEBT

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus

Remember how just a few weeks ago Frau Merkel and Monsieur Sarkozy locked horns about bailing out Greece and potentially just about everyone else? (I wonder, who will eventually bail out the bailiffs?) . Well... the pair have now decided to put on a brave show of kiss, kiss, no tell - for the good of their Union, you understand.

To symbolize their re-found and re-energized affection for each other, the pair have also chosen a song, once very popular during their more.. how shall we put it... salubrious days.

Take it away, maestro...

From Wikipedia:

Je t'aime moi non plus.. "was originally written for and recorded in 1968 with Gainsbourg's then girlfriend, Brigitte Bardot. However, Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release their recording of the song: she was married at the time, to German businessman Gunter Sachs. Gainsbourg complied. Later that year, Gainsbourg met, and fell in love with, English actress Jane Birkin, on the set of their film Slogan. "Je t'aime... moi non plus" was re-recorded with Birkin replacing Bardot, and was released early in 1969".

He shouln't have yelled at her during this night of May, Friday 7. to Saturday 8. Here an excerpt from the english wikipedia about french proverbs:"La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid."- Idiomatic translation: Revenge is a dish best served cold.- Literal: Revenge is a dish that is eaten cold.Debra, Hell, is the idiomatic translation used in english?

For the French readers, there is a very interesting albeit long text that shows how small personal history interacts with History. It is about the currency crisis in Europe in 1992/1993. The one that made Soros a billionaire when the british pound was forced to leave the system. Trichet was already there as the boss of the French Central Bank. At the time that crisis cost me my job because the main competitors of my company were italian, and the Italians were forced to devalue the lire which gave them an overnight advantage that I thought was about 30%.

Those Europeans with their weak Euro. Now US Treasuries are back in style. 'Cos the US dollar and economy are so secure. That means Obama has unlimited potential to borrow and spend. The possibilities are endless. More bailouts for Wall Street? A war with Iran? More subsidies for home buyers? Lifelong unemployment benefits? Bailouts for states and municipalities? All of the above?

In my usual off topic beginning, I thought you would like to know that this morning, I was treated to an editorial from El Pais talking about the DIFFERENCE between Germany and southern Europe...The Spanish are coming up with a new, humorous, sarcastic way of treating the financial debacle (wink, wink, nudge, nudge...) while... the German people (including Angela Merkel, apparently...) don't see much to laugh about these days...i say that...Maybe we could go back (at least) to the Traité de Versailles and war reparations in 1918 that made current austerity look like a party in comparison, and be thinking about THAT context.Ironic that Germany, whose birth as a nation state in Western European modernity was responsible for considerable bloodshed on European soil (for reasons that are more complicated than I can talk about, I plead ignorance) is once again in a central position in THIS crisis.i say... let's laugh. (There is.. FREEDOM in laughter, right ? ;-) )Something many of our sourpuss, Northern ( often Protestant...) forefathers are not very good at doing, by the way. Gotta get to Italy soon... even if Berlusconi is steering the Titanic, the Tintoretto paintings in the Scuolo San Rocco in Venise do NOT immortalize that clown...Whew. What a relief...

A google translation of an article on the Portuguese reference newspaper (worth reading even if you do not care about the country, it has to do with the attitude).

I can assure you that it is worse than it seems: In urban areas public transport is in line with the European standard (e.g., Lisbon fares better than London in comparison of public transport according to most measures). The car is not needed in most cases (I know what I am talking about as I use public transport). Most people (at least in urban areas) can stop using the car. I think many of them will be _forced to_, soon.

About Me

I was educated as a chemical engineer but spent almost my entire career in finance, particularly in money, FX and bond markets. The name stands for Hell-as-IOUs and the picture points to Quixotic endeavors.